Chapter Eleven

 

 

When Hal walked into the kitchen on Sunday morning, Emma flitted from the work counter to the cookstove, humming. She stopped long enough to pour Hal a cup of coffee, motioned toward a chair and continued her work. An unusual amount of pots clustered on the stove, crowding each other for room. Emma took the lid off one and then another. Some she stirred and others she checked.

“Looks like you’re fixing a feast. Is there a reason?” Hal asked before she took a sip from her cup.

Emma, in the middle of taste sampling, didn’t have a chance to answer. Daniel burst into the kitchen. “They’re here!”

“Who’s here?” Hal asked. She didn’t need an answer to that question, either. She looked over Daniel’s head at Roseanna Miller. As pretty as ever, Roseanna, dressed in her black mourning clothes, didn’t look pale or dull eyed like a woman who had recently lost her husband. The wind, during the buggy ride, had buffed the young woman’s cheeks with a rose blush. Her eyes sparkled with a new zest for life. Hal felt jealousy creeping up on her. Was Roseanna so cheerful because she was glad to see John?

Emma dried her hands on her apron and rushed to give Roseanna a hug. “Welcome. Join Hallie and me. I am so glad you could come.”

“It was good of you to invite my family and Samuel,” said Roseanna, blushing shyly.

“Samuel Nisley came with you?” Came out of Hal’s surprised mouth before she could stop herself.

“Yes, Samuel brought us,” Roseanna continued. “He is outside with John, sitting on the porch. No telling where my two children are by now. Once they get with Noah and Daniel, the four of them scatter like quail.” She laughed at the thought.

“Roseanna, would you like to have a cup of tea or coffee?” Emma asked.

Much to Hal’s disapproval, Roseanna made herself right at home. “No. Can I help with dinner, Emma?”

“You can set the table. The food will be ready soon,” Emma told her, looking in another pot.

Sure. I’m sitting here like the lazy hen Stella Strutt once called me. Emma could have asked me to help her but instead she lets Roseanna, Hal complained inwardly.

Roseanna looked from Emma to Hal with a cheerful smile. “It is so good to see you both again.”

Emma gave her a hug. “It is so good you came for dinner.”

The two women had known each other longer than Hal knew Emma. They liked each other and got along so well. Hal felt her eyes turning green as they darted an imaginary emerald laser beam at Roseanna.

“It feels good to visit. It has been a long time since I felt like leaving home. I am grateful to Samuel for driving us here and for your invitation,” Rosanna said sincerely to Emma.

Emma darted a glance at Hal. Just long enough to catch the long, hard stare Hal focused on her. Emma deliberately turned her back. This whole thing smelled like a conspiracy. This was Emma’s idea to throw her and Roseanna together in the same room.

“It has been hard to feel happy for such a long time since Emil went and kicked the bucket.” Roseanna swiped at a tear in the corner of her eye with her finger. “But that is getting better,” she said softly as she set the last plate on the table.

Why wouldn’t things get better for her if she was set on marrying John Lapp, Hal thought.

Emma touched Roseanna’s arm. “I am glad to hear you say that.”

Roseanna patted her hand. “Yes, I am blessed in many ways, and I should remember that.”

Emma turned to Hal with a smile that would melt butter. “You should show Roseanna our clinic while I am watching the food cook.” She helped Hal up and took both women by the arm. She marched them toward the door as she said to Roseanna, “We are very proud of it.”

“Yes, I would like to see the clinic,” Roseanna said with curious enthusiasm.

Hal felt like a truck named Emma had just flattened her. As she left the kitchen with Roseanna, she heard Emma humming softly at the stove. Hal always took for granted that the kitchen was Emma’s domain, but now it looked like she had branched out.

Roseanna walked around the clinic taking in everything. Hal leaned against the wall with her hands behind her back. Roseanna looked at the cupboards, in the cupboards and patted the quilt on the bed. “I remember this quilt. We quilted it at Linda Yoder’s house.” Finally, she sat down at the table. “Join me, Nurse Hal.”

Hal sat down across from her.

Roseanna looked out the window. “I can see Emma’s garden from here.”

“Yes, Emma and I are working on the garden. I’ve found out gardens are quite an undertaking. Emma sure takes hers seriously,” Hal said, eying the widow.

Something in Hal’s tone made Roseanna study her. Not long, but enough to make Hal nervous. “Yes, growing food is important to keep us from going hungry. But what you do is important and special, too. Anyone can grow a garden, but not everyone can be a nurse like you. One that is so good at helping people in need as you are.” Roseanna gave her a sad smile. “I’ll never forget how hard you tried to save Emil.” She laid her hand on Hal’s.

With the gentle warmth of Roseanna’s hand touching hers, Hal felt her jealousy melt away. She said earnestly, “I just wish I could have been successful.”

Looking out the window but not really seeing what was there anymore, Roseanna said softly, “Many times, I have wished the same thing. I miss my husband. Sometimes, the worries that used to be shared with Emil are almost beyond my ability to endure. I struggle to hang onto the farm for my son to take over when he is grown. Without the milk check, we could not manage. We would have no way to pay the land taxes. Even if we succeed at keeping our farm, sadness overwhelms me when I look at my children. I realize they will grow up without their father.”

So are you telling me you need John more than I do? Hal thought. Out loud she said, “It’s hard to get on top of such feelings, isn’t it?”

“Yes. I am a hard worker. Though I can do much of what Emil did, working the land and milking the cows, I have always taken care of the house, raised the children, fed the family, gardened. I can still keep us fed if I garden, but to plow, plant, harvest crops and milk cows twice a day plus all the household duties is more than I can handle,” Roseanna said honestly.

“So you need John’s help, milking the cows,” suggested Hal. She steeled herself for Roseanna to tell her John was the answer to all the Miller family’s prayers. So Hal should just give up hope of ever becoming a part of the Lapp family.

Roseanna continued. “And Elton Bontrager planting the crops. It felt like Samuel was a Godsend when he showed up to take over. John needed a break to tend to his farming and to be with ----.” Raising her eyebrows, she paused, studied Hal’s face then continued, “with his family.”

Hal was caught off guard. Somehow, Roseanna must know how fond John was of her. How? Happy as a meadowlark perched on top of the wood cookstove, Emma’s humming grew louder. Of course. It was Emma who told her.

The woman rushed on, “I am so grateful for all my neighbors. I appreciate what they have done for my family in Emil’s memory. May God reward them for helping me in my time of need.”

“Maybe I simplify life too much, but when I’m having a bad time, I just imagine myself in a better place in the future where I’ll be happy again. It works for me,” Hal said, softening toward Roseanna because of her troubles. It was easier now to feel compassion for the woman. Much easier now that she knew Roseanna realized there was no hope of John marrying her.

“For me, it helped when I thought of a bible verse. I sought the Lord, and He answered me, and delivered me from my fears. I had a talk with myself. I told myself to stop wallowing in self-pity. I have my children. They need me. I must find a way to go on.” Roseanna cocked her ear toward the porch, listening to Samuel chuckle at something John said. Her eyes glowed as she smiled at Hal. “These days it is easier to believe I am delivered from my fears. A dark cloud will often have a silver lining.” She looked out the window and said with meaning, “I have found my silver lining. Is it not strange how life turns out?”

“I understand, and I agree,” Hal said, trying to digest the fact that Roseanna was fond of Samuel. A feeling as light as floating feather lifted a great weight from inside her. It was easy for her to say goodbye to Mr. Jealousy now that Roseanna and she shared secrets.

“Now tell me, are you coming to the quilting bee at Jane Bontrager’s?” Roseanna asked.

“I’ve been invited,” Hal hedged. “Are you going?”

“Yes. You should come. It will be fun,” Roseanna said.

Hal glanced toward the porch and wrinkled her nose. “That’s what Emma said, but John didn’t seem so enthusiastic about my going.”

“Why not?”

“I’m not sure. Sometimes, the most embarrassing things happen when I’m around. Perhaps, John is afraid about what his friends will think of me,” suggested Hal.

Roseanna gave her a very sympathetic look. “I can not imagine anyone worrying about you not getting along well. The women in the Plain community will love you once they get to know you. Please come.”

“There is one problem that could prove John right. I don’t know how to sew,” Hal confessed.

“Plain women are not born with the talent for sewing. They learn it with practice. You can, too,” Roseanna said as if she had confidence in Hal.

“Emma is trying to teach me. We’ll see,” Hal said, still being noncommittal. “Let’s go see if we can help Emma. More than likely she is about ready to have us sit down to eat.”

Roseanna laughed. “Emma, is such a daerrich szwanger.”

After the Miller family and Samuel left, Emma said to Hal, “Sit down at the table and talk to me. I am curious to know what Roseanna thought of the clinic.”

Picking at a bread crumb Emma missed when she wiped the table, Hal said, “She was impressed. She said your father was very smart to have thought of such a handy thing for Plain people.” Hal darted a look at Emma.

The girl gave her a searching look. Hal could read her like a book. Emma thought a compliment from Roseanna about her father would still bother her. As if anything nice said about John by Roseanna was a sign of her affection for him. True Hal had thought that up until today, but she was relieved to be able to put that behind her.

“Tell me, did you invite Roseanna for dinner for a reason? Maybe so I’d get to know her better?” Hal asked curiously.